MS Visual C# Express + O'Reilly Head First C#

I shelved good old Bloodshed's Dev-C++ IDE and am now fully engaged in getting a handle on using Microsoft's Visual C# 2008 Express package. So far I love it. Ease of use and online documentation is excellent.

The real gem in getting started with MSVC# 2008 Express is working with O'Reilly's Head First C# text . Although I'm only 60 page in, I find the book amazing and it's gotten me using the tools right away. The book had a good chapter on developing windows forms and linking to an SQL database. I worked concurrently with the book however to make the most of it I substituted my own project in place of the books example. I created a New Customer registration form and database for Sublime. It was a fairly decent rough draft. The project also helped demystify SQL database linking.

I'm focusing on efficiency -- concurrently working on the development as I learn/self-train. Taking an opportunity to convert a learning/training example to something tangible to my game development is a big bonus. So far I'm also getting quick and adequate programming experience while editing C# code after the repetitive bulk has been built via the toolboxes.

Overall I'm buzzing with enthusiasm for the development project and especially pleased with my choices in literature/development direction so far.